In 1628 the Dutch East India Company loaded the Batavia, the flagship of its fleet, with a king's ransom in gold, silver, and gems for her maiden voyage to Java; the ship itself was a tangible symbol of the world's richest and most powerful monopoly. The company also sent along a new employee to guard its treasure. He was Jeronimus Corneliszoon, a disgraced and bankrupt man with great charisma and dangerously heretical ideas. With the help of a few disgruntled sailors, he hatched a plot to seize the ship and her riches. The mutiny might have succeeded, but in the dark morning hours of June 3, 1629, the Batavia smashed through a coral reef and ran aground on a small chain of islands near Australia. The captain and skipper escaped the wreck, and in a tiny lifeboat they set sail for Java--some 1,500 miles north--to summon help. More than 250 frightened survivors waded ashore, thankful to be alive. Unfortunately, Jeronimus and the mutineers had survived too, and the nightmare was only beginning.

Product Details

About the Author

Mike Dash is the author of the national bestseller Tulipomania. A journalist and Cambridge-educated historian, he lives in London. From the Hardcover edition.

Reviews

Dash clearly has a yen for the quirky. After examining the trouble a few flowers caused in Tulipomania, he turns to a brutal mutiny in 1629 aboard the Batavia, a treasure ship belonging to the Dutch East India Company. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Dash's sociology of the paranormal (Borderlands) and of obsession in Holland (Tulipomania) prepared him nicely for this telling of a 17th-century ship loaded with Dutchmen, treasure and fanaticism. In 1629 the Batavia, a 160-foot merchant ship launched by the Dutch East India Company, was carrying silver to East India when it ran upon coral atolls northwest of Australia and coughed up its passengers. In Dash's account, the survivors 300 passengers and about 50 sociopathic crewmen settled on the tiny island, soon to be called Batavia's Graveyard, and quickly became madhouse models of Dutch social classes. Officers set out in life boats to Java for help, leaving Jeronimus Corneliszoon, a failed apothecary and heretic, in charge; he began terrorizing his own crewmen, then the other marooned passengers. Within two months, 115 of the survivors (including 30 women and children) had murdered each other with swords, pikes, daggers and by drowning (Corneliszoon poisoned an infant that kept him awake). In a narrative reminiscent of Lord of the Flies, Dash describes the creeping sadism that sprang from Holland's religious conflicts, which were channeled through the Jim Jones-like charisma of Corneliszoon. The book is driven by Dash's research (a quarter of the book is notes and appendices, including material from newly discovered records in Holland), but the same attention to detail (e.g., the narrative lists and the psychobiography of Corneliszoon) interrupts the pace. The story of the Batavia incident is already well recorded, and even though Dash has taken it to a new level of grotesque accuracy, his nautical drama never truly comes to life. (Feb.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

"Brilliantly crafted, deeply researched . . . a gruesome and powerfully written history. [Dash] provides a thorough look at the underlying subject of all expedition stories--the human heart." --Star-Tribune (Minneapolis) "Horrific and mesmerizing . . . No history I've read in years places you so deeply inside a piece of the past."--National Geographic Adventure "Scholarly and exhilarating. Not only history, but an enthralling sea yarn and true-crime thriller." --Associated Press "I read it in one sitting, absolutely enchanted." --St. Louis Post-Dispatch Brilliantly crafted, deeply researched . . . a gruesome and powerfully written history. [Dash] provides a thorough look at the underlying subject of all expedition stories the human heart. Star-Tribune (Minneapolis) Horrific and mesmerizing . . . No history I ve read in years places you so deeply inside a piece of the past. National Geographic Adventure Scholarly and exhilarating. Not only history, but an enthralling sea yarn and true-crime thriller. Associated Press I read it in one sitting, absolutely enchanted. St. Louis Post-Dispatch"

Fishpond works with suppliers all over the world to bring you a huge selection of products, really great prices, and delivery included on over 25 million products that we sell.
We do our best every day to make Fishpond an awesome place for customers to shop and get what they want — all at the best prices online.

You can earn a 5%
commission by selling Batavia's Graveyard: The True Story of the Mad Heretic Who Led History's Bloodiest Mutiny
on your website. It's easy to get started - we will give you example code.
After you're set-up, your website can earn you money while you work, play or even sleep!
You should start right now!

Are you the Author or Publisher of a book? Or the manufacturer of one of the millions of products that we sell.
You can improve sales and grow your revenue by submitting additional information on this title.
The better the information we have about a product, the more we will sell!